When A Butterfly Beats Its Wings
by AnUnholyAmountOfPasta
Summary: AU in which Sirius and James never became friends on the train and one of them ends up with a very different decision from the Sorting Hat. Rewrite!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter Title: The Sorting**

 **Rating: K+**

 **Pairings: Vague Lucius/Narcissa**

 **Warnings: Some bullying themes.**

* * *

The Great Hall was almost exactly how he'd pictured it; his excitement over finally getting to attend Hogwarts had been overwhelming over the summer, resulting in much teasing from his older cousins who were already students at the famous school. Sirius had spent much of their time together pestering them for information.

As the new first years headed up to the front of the Hall behind Professor McGonagall, Orion Black's disapproving, cold grey eyes appeared in the forefront of Sirius' mind, making him eye the Sorting Hat with a growing feeling of dread. As much as he may disagree with the rest of the House of Black on matters of blood purity and its importance in wizarding society, a sense of duty to the old man tugged at him. If that tattered and dirty old hat called out any other name but Slytherin as it touched his head, he'd be letting his father down. Worse than that: he'd be embarrassing him. Blacks did not embarrass their parents.

It was a heavy weight on the shoulders of the eleven year old.

"Black, Sirius!"

His name was called after "Avery, Ambrose!" was sent off to the Slytherin table. His eyes were fixed on the hat as he made his way through the crowd and up to sit on the stool, his heart thumping loudly against his rib cage. As the hat was lowered onto his head, he caught sight of his cousins. Andromeda offered him a small smile of encouragement, Cissy looked bored. The last thing he saw before the rim of the hat obscured his vision was Bella's intense stare.

 _No pressure._

A loud voice replied, making him jump, _"You think you have pressure? It's me everyone's waiting for. Hmm… let's see. Another Black … but you're different from the others, aren't you? Yes, very different. Certainly not Ravenclaw... no... no..."_

 _Hey,_ Sirius thought indignantly.

The Hat carried on, _"A lot of loyalty yes, but not a fit for Hufflepuff. Gryffindor on the other hand, that could work very well for you."_

 _Not when my family hears._ Sirius started to fidget as the minutes ticked by while the voice in his head hmm'd and ha'd. It had stalled on Andromeda as well and even that had not gone down well back home, and she'd ended up in Slytherin anyway. With an inward sigh, Sirius crossed his arms. _Look, just get it over with and put me in Slytherin. We both know that's where I'm going to end up anyway._

 _"Yes, Slytherin would work... could be very beneficial...a lot of good to be done in these darkening times... yes, better be_ SLYTHERIN!"

The Sorting Hat was abruptly removed from his head and he squinted against the sudden bright lights of the Great Hall as it came back into focus. Confused, slightly haldf-hearted, applause rang out across gathered students and Sirius trudged down to join his new housemates. Sliding into a spare seat next to Andromeda, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Well done, you've just saved yourself a lot of trouble," she remarked with a smile.

He nodded and turned his head back to the Sorting. As it progressed, the words of the old hat drifted back into his mind. _Very beneficial... good to be done... what did it mean?_ He couldn't seem to shake off the sense of uneasiness that fell upon him at hearing those words again.

"Potter, James!"

Sirius looked up and briefly made eye contact with the lanky, bespectacled boy. There was a brief pause then... "GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted on the other side of the Hall this time as the boy grinned and sauntered down. Sirius felt a brief flash of... was it disappointment? Shaking his head, he turned his attentions away from the Sorting, instead wondering when the feast was going to be served. All this tension had made him starving.

He got his wish just a few minutes later. The rest of the sorting went by relatively quickly, with five more students joining the Slytherin table - one of whom sat himself down next to Sirius. The latter afforded him only a quick glance, taking in his greasy hair and pallid complexion before turning away in disgust. Yeah he was a Slytherin alright, you only needed to look once to see that. Wrinkling his nose, Sirius turned his focus back on the food, hurriedly piling more and more onto his plate.

Halfway through stuffing his face with a chicken drumstick, he looked up to find the Potter boy staring at him again. As they made eye contact, Potter didn't look away; instead he offered a small grin before turning to listen to the conversation of the two boys seated to his right. Sirius frowned. He was a weird one. Definitely a Gryffindor. They'd spoken briefly on the train; he couldn't even remember what it was about. Potter had seemed friendly enough, someone he could have been friends with, given the right circumstances.

Glancing at the greasy boy next to him, Sirius felt the stab of disappointment and longing again at the thought that this boy and his compatriots were the ones that he was meant to spend the next seven years befriending instead. He snorted, attracting some strange looks from the students around him, which he didn't notice. He'd rather hang out with the Hufflepuffs.

Remembering his rumbling belly, he leant over the girl next to him to grab the dish of roast potatoes, earning a sharp shove in the ribs and a snapped: "Didn't your mother teach you table manners?"

Sirius shrugged as he ladled the potatoes onto his plate. "Dunno. Stopped listening to the harpie when I turned three."

"Sirius!" Narcissa looked shocked at his blatant disrespect while Andromeda merely hid a smile. Clearly it was going to take more than being sorted into the 'correct' house to tame her rebellious cousin.

Stuffing food into his mouth, Sirius mumbled, "So, what's your name?"

She looked disgusted as specks of gravy sprayed over the table. "Ugh... Abigail Nighthew."

The name attracted the attention of the blond seventh year sitting with Narcissa Black. With a small smirk, he spoke up, "A relation of Armin Nighthew, I presume?"

Her hazel eyes momentarily flashed with what looked like fear and Sirius felt the atmosphere turn a little as it became clear Lucius Malfoy had noticed it as well, a smirk crossing his pale face.

"Yes, quite a respected Pureblood family." He waited until he saw Abigail's shoulders relax and then continued almost non-chalantly, "At least they were. Your mother's a muggle, correct? Quite the scandal."

All eyes were now on Abigail who was trying not very successfully to hold back tears as her face grew scarlet. Watching the exchange, Sirius felt indignation begin building up inside him at the shameless taunting from the prefect, as well as the giggles and whispers from the younger students within earshot.

"Back off, Malfoy," he warned, the words coming out before he could stop them. They were meant to sound intimidating but thanks to his treacherous, peri-pubescent voice, they shook a little and ended with a particularly embarrassing squeak as everyone turned to see who had dared challenge a Malfoy. The girl, Abigail, was looking at him as well; clearly shocked by the sudden intervention from the scruffy boy sat next to her.

Lucius let his eyes wander up and down Sirius, as if assessing him to decide whether he was a threat big enough to bother addressing. Decision made, he gave a small smile and returned to his meal with a last snide remark to his companion.

"It's unfortunate that your cousin's upbringing clearly wasn't as refined as yours, Cissy."

Narcissa blushed and glared furiously at Sirius, who glared straight back. "Don't take him seriously, Lucius. The excitement of the night must have gone to his head."

Sirius gave another undignified snort and went back to his own dinner as slowly conversations began to resume.

"Thanks," Abigail murmured, avoiding his eye.

He shrugged. "Don't mention it. Could you pass the potatoes?"

* * *

Along with the rest of the first years, Sirius tried to keep the excitement from his face, preferring to look cool and casual, and - along with the rest of the first years - he failed. The group came to a stop in the middle of the common room and the bored looking fifth year prefect spoke: "Alright, girls dorm to the left, boys to the right. I don't care if you're going to be idiots and try and sneak into each others' rooms, just don't get caught otherwise I'll need to act like I give a damn."

A boy behind Sirius snickered, attracting the glare of the prefect and quickly masked it as a cough.

"Right now that's over: piss off. We don't like first years cluttering up the common room."

Eager to find out where he'd be staying for the next seven years, Sirius followed the rest of the boys to the right, quickly realising with disgust that he'd be sharing with the boy who'd been sitting next to him at the feast, as well as the boy who had laughed down in the common room. A couple of other guys he recognised from the Sorting joined them as he claimed the bed next to the window. Flopping down onto it, he noted with relief that it wasn't too uncomfortable. Looking up the emerald curtains draped around him, he let out a sigh. Things were about to get interesting.

* * *

 **As stated, this is a rewrite and continuation of a story I started under another account that I'm now locked out of - I promise I haven't stolen it! Reviews are much appreciated, as always :)**


	2. Chapter 2

The first class of the year was unfortunately the one that Sirius had been looking forward to the least: Potions. Slytherin and Gryffindor were taking the class together and the students were clearly segregated; Gryffindors sat to the right, Slytherins to the left.

There was, however, one exception.

Sirius could see out of the corner of his eye the furtive, suspicious glares that the Gryffindors surrounding him were throwing his way. Turning up the last to class had left him with no option but to sit in the only remaining available seat - on the right side of the room.

"Perfect," he muttered darkly, dropping his textbook on the desk with a loud thump, earning a glare from the fiery haired girl next to him.

"Yeah, I'm not thrilled about it either," she snapped, turning her attentions back to her own book that she had already started pouring over in earnest.

"Class hasn't started yet," Sirius pointed out. "No need to show off to the professor by pretending you're actually interested yet."

Her green eyes stared straight into his grey ones as she shot back hotly, "Although it may not have occurred to _you,_ some people are actually interested in the world around them."

Raising his eyebrows, he replied, "Touchy! Alright, alright, go back to your reading then." Rolling his eyes, he muttered, "Girls!"

Thirty minutes later, his attitude was very different. The girl, Evans he was sure her name was, pointedly ignored his whispered pleas for help as the Potions Master began moving around the classroom, checking each student's cauldron to see how their potion was coming along. Sirius looked at his in despair; what was meant to be a lime green, sweet-smelling concoction had turned dark purple and stank of rotten eggs.

"Evans, come on! How do I fix this?" he hissed.

She shook her head, barely hiding a smirk. "Sorry, but I wouldn't want you to think I was 'showing off'."

He sneered at her and then had to quickly straighten his face as Slughorn eventually stopped by his desk.

"Too much powdered newt spleen, Mr Black," he said, his nose wrinkling as the rancid smell reached his nostrils. With a wave of his wand, the cauldron instantly emptied itself and he ordered, "Start again if you please."

Moving towards the next desk, Slughorn instead looked pleased as he peered into Lily's cauldron and saw a near perfect potion simmering gently. "Excellent, Evans! Yes, very well done; five points for Gryffindor. You could learn a thing or two from Evans here, Black."

Lily beamed and shot a quick glance at Sirius before replying, "Thank you, sir."

Scowling, Sirius muttered, "Teacher's pet."

"Idiot," she shot back.

* * *

Charms went a little better; he managed to get to the class on time and ended up sitting next to one of his roommates, Avery, who was - as Sirius had already suspected from their previous brief interactions - a complete imbecile.

"Saw you sitting next to that mudblood in Potions," the aforementioned imbecile said with a cackle, "You didn't catch anything, did you?"

Sirius didn't answer, concentrating instead on trying to get the swish and flick of the levitating charm exactly right. This did not deter Avery from continuing.

"If I were you, I would have demanded that Slughorn made her move desks. I wouldn't want to take the chance of any of her dirt rubbing off on me. My father says it's a disgrace that they're even allowed to share classrooms with us. In fact, he says they shouldn't even be allowed to attend the same _school_ as us, them not being proper witches and wizards after all."

It was a familiar speech to Sirius and he was already more than a little tired of it. He looked over towards the redheaded girl who was sitting on the other side of the class next to a scrawny Gryffindor boy; she had, of course, already mastered the spell perfectly and her feather floated higher than anyone else's. Looking back pointedly at Avery's motionless feather, Sirius shrugged. "Whatever you say..."

The overtones were lost on Avery unfortunately and he smirked at Sirius. "My father will be pleased to hear I'm sharing a room with a Black."

"Will he," Sirius replied, not listening.

"Of course! It's important for the ancient houses to stick together, and I didn't want to be sharing with any old student. Having Mulciber as well is a plus. Our mothers are old school friends, you see..."

By the end of the lesson, Sirius was dearly wishing he was back next to Evans.

* * *

Lunch couldn't come quickly enough, and as Sirius got to work filling his plate with everything in sight, a familiar blond seventh year slid into the seat next to him. Pausing, ladle of baked beans mid-air, Sirius looked questioningly at Lucius as the older boy stared him down, clearly attempting to intimidate. Sirius had met Lucius several times through their parents' countless parties and social events; once when Sirius was six, he'd dropped a bowlful of newt eyes over the side of the banister, straight onto the older boy's head. He hadn't taken it well.

"Something I can help you with?"

"I thought we could have a little chat."

"What about?" Sirius asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Your allegiances," came the immediate reply. "Your cousins are concerned for you. You don't seem to show the same ... vehemence as the rest of your family on certain matters. Rumour has it that you've even been consorting with mudbloods."

The younger boy scoffed and pushed his too long hair out of his eyes. "My 'allegiances' are none of your business, Malfoy."

"On the contrary, Black." He leaned in a little closer. "If you'll take some friendly advice? Keep to your own kind."

Sirius looked off into the distance, deep in thought. Turning back to Malfoy, he asked seriously, "What about my owl?"

"What about it?" Lucius asked, confused.

"Can I still use it? I mean, it's not one of 'my kind', but I really rely on it to contact home... though actually, now that I say that, not having one may be a bonus."

The older boy gave him a look of pure contempt and stalked out of the Hall. Sirius grinned and shouted after him, "What about a rat, Malfoy? Would that be more 'my kind'? Come back! I desperately need to know your opinion!"

Sniggering to himself, he went back to his lunch as a quiet voice from across the table spoke up.

"You should listen to what he says."

Looking up to see another one of his roommates, Sirius glared at him and snapped, "Have a wash and then come back and see if I want your advice then, Snape."

What was it with everyone butting in with their opinions today?

* * *

"Up!"

The ratty old broomstick shot straight up into his outstretched hand on the first attempt, making Sirius grin. It faltered as he looked around and saw one of the Gryffindors had managed it a split second before him.

"Well done, Mr Potter! And Mr Black! Excellent, boys!"

Potter had also looked upon hearing the other boy's name and his proud grin also lessened slightly. Determination set in both their eyes as they finally looked away from each other. Sirius was quietly seething; _no one_ was going to beat him at flying this year. If there was one class he was actually determined to ace, it was this one.

Unbeknownst to him, James was thinking exactly the same thing as he waited impatiently for the rest of the class to catch up. Flying was one subject he knew he was going to excel in before he even got his Hogwarts letter, and there was no way a _Slytherin_ was going to prove him wrong.

"Alright," Professor Dawkins announced, as the last of the students managed to successfully call their brooms up, "Now: mount your brooms, make sure you're keeping a tight grip as you do so."

Sirius followed the instructions and simple beginners exercises but was itching to get to the actual flying part. From the look of the students around him, Sirius realised most of them had probably never flown a broom in their lives, most likely due to over-protective or muggle parents. Thankfully, he didn't fall into that category, he was dying to show off what he could do.

Unfortunately, someone beat him to it.

Seeing the teacher turn her back and make her way down to the other end of the field where the other half of the class were standing, Potter whistled, attracting the surround students' attentions. Kicking off from the ground, he zoomed off into the sky, earning the surprised gasps of group. Sirius glared up at the Gryffindor as he flew higher and then swooped down suddenly, pulling up just before he would have hit the ground and hovering with a cocky grin as he lapped up the admiration of their classmates.

"How did you do that?" asked one girl as James hopped down onto solid ground.

"Do what?" Sirius scoffed, pushing forwards. "You want to see something that's really impressive?"

Kicking off, he hurtled upwards at breakneck speed.

James crossed his arms and watched stonily, grudgingly impressed at the way the other boy handled his broom almost as well as him. Almost.

Sirius kept climbing until what he deemed to be the perfect height, smiled to himself, then jerked his broom up and around sharply - performing a perfect loop the loop.

"Mr Black, return to the ground _immediately_!"

The professor's angry command shattered his proud moment and he let out a dejected sigh as he slowly drifted back down to the group.

"Ten points from Slytherin and detention with me tonight, Black," she ordered. "And as you so obviously know everything there is to know, you will stay on the ground for the remainder of the lesson or regret it!"

"Yes, Professor," Sirius muttered and she bustled away. Glancing over his shoulder, he smirked at Potter. "Better luck next time."

He started walking away, pleased with himself despite the detention, when he heard Dawkins' raised voice again.

"Potter! Get back down here at once!"

Sirius whirled round and his mouth fell open as he saw James performing the same difficult manoeuvre he had just completed... twice. Their eyes locked across the field as Dawkins launched into an angry tirade. Sirius smirked, seeing the challenge that glinted clearly from behind those glasses: _game on._

"You will join Black in detention, Potter, and ten points from Gryffindor!" Dawkins announced, glaring at both boys, neither of whom were paying any attention to her. Confiscating both brooms, she then rushed off to help Benjy Fenwick who was somehow dangling dangerously upside down from his hovering broom and turning an unattractive shade of purple.

"What an idiot," came a scornful voice over his shoulder. Sirius turned to see Abigail looking over in disdain at the group of Gryffindors gathering around Potter. "Totally full of himself and with no reason. Typical Gryffindor!"

Sirius gave a non-committal grunt, already too busy plotting to engage in chit-chat, and stalked off, leaving her to stare after him in bemusement.

* * *

 **Big thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, you're all reasons for me continuing :P**


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